Saturday, August 21, 2010 from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM (PDT)

Ticket Information

Event Details

BioCuriouspresents

For love of the crush: The art and science of wine from a born-again Winemaker

Join us for an evening with Satori Cellars owner, Tom Moller, who will guide you through the process of winemaking, including crushing, pressing, yeast additions,
sulfite
practices, cellaring and what's involved and how it differs for
different wines, barrel considerations, racking, bottling and bottle
ageing.

Start with a glass of chardonay, then stroll through Satori's acres of wine grapes as Tom explains varietals, vineyard management, and how to sample grapes to determine when they're ready.

The evening will end with a sampling of a minimum of 10 types of wine.

Tom has kindly offered a discount on wines for all attendees.

Saturday, August 21

4:00 - 6:30 pm

Satori Cellars: 2100 Buena Vista Avenue, Gilroy, CA 95020

http://www.satoricellars.com

Price: $20

Email eri@biocurious.org with questions

The Satori Story

Celebrating The
Journey!

The Magical Experience that is now SatoriCellars unfolded almost on its own. It has been a
succession of amazing and wonderful events, rather than the fulfillment of a well-formulated plan, that has led us
to where we are now, a beautiful oasis in California's southern Santa Clara Valley.

Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite
Sirah, Syrah, and a little bit of Cabernet Franc, grow abundantly here on fifteen
acres of vineyards. We also purchase Chardonnay grapes and blend several of our
estate-grown grapes into two wines we call Joyous and Harmonic Convergence. Satori
currently produces 1,500 cases of wine a year and plan to increase to 3,000 cases
by 2012.

How did Satoricome to be? Winemaker and principal owner, Tom Moller, explained, "Satori just sort of happened. I suppose it began in 1993 when I purchased the 20-acre parcel
of land that is now home to Satori. At
the time, I was an engineer designing devices for cellular base stations at an unknown
company called Ericsson that was determined to bring cell phones to the masses.
The cell phone market was just beginning to take off, and I was very busy.

At the time, I had an unstable neighbor,
who I would like to thank today, because it was his
behavior that prompted me to venture out and find a new home. I told my realtor
I had only two criteria: a maximum price and no close neighbors. As it turned
out, he represented a seller with a 20-acre parcel of land just north of
Gilroy, not far from where I worked in Morgan Hill. The property was filled
with very old and dying plum trees, a small cozy house, and a tiny dilapidated
barn, but I liked the land. It felt 'right'. The seller asked 50% more than I
was willing to pay. Fortunately, an urgent matter came up that forced him to
reconsider, and we sealed the deal shortly thereafter.

My father referred to my
purchase as 'the dust bowl', and indeed it was. However, it was not always that
way. In the 1930s, it was a thriving prune orchard. Arrival of the transcontinental
railroad in 1869 gave growers a national market for their fruit and other
crops. By the early 20th century, 100,000 acres of Santa Clara valley land were
planted with fruits and nuts, including cherries, pears, and peaches. Prunes
and apricots became the area's biggest crops, and Santa Clara was known as the
Prune Capital of the World. Some said there was no better place on earth to
grow fruit than the Santa Clara Valley.

Over the next six years, while the cell phone business with Ericsson was booming
and demand for cellular devices went through the roof, we managed to put in a driveway, built several fences
to keep dogs in and deer out, built a large barn (which we eventually turned
into a house), put in a swimming pool, built a huge deck, put in a lawn, and removed
all the dead plum trees. None of it was planned; we just did one thing at a
time.

The land was completely bare after removing the dead plum trees, so I
planted Christmas trees. However, they all died because there was no
irrigation. In the summer of 1999, I spent my free time installing a huge drip
irrigation system for all twenty acres, but by the time the system was completely
installed, I had lost my enthusiasm for Christmas trees.

My day job required constant travel, and I developed a friendship with
the car service owner, Marc, who drove me to and from the airport a half dozen times
a month. Marc was a home winemaker, who never missed a chance to tell me how
perfect my property would be to grow wine grapes. Late 1999, Marc called and
said he had 1,000 plants (grapevine starters) ready to order. All I needed to
do was give him my credit card number. So I did.

The next weekend we set out to plant the vines without seriously
considering the layout or how much help we would need to plant them all. It
only took half an hour before we realized we needed help. We drove to a local hardware
store where we hired some laborers, and from there everything went downhill. The
rows we planted were uneven, and the plants got mixed up. It was quite a mess,
and I realized I had bitten off more than I could chew. Marc had to leave for an
airport pickup, so I was left to work with the five laborers. Four were far
more interested in talking and drinking beer than planting vines, and I let
them go. The one remaining, Ray, whose English was as poor as my Spanish, was
conscientious and a hard worker, and has since become one of my closest
friends.

When we finished, I offered to drive Ray home. When we pulled into the
driveway of his rented apartment, we were right in the middle of a large
vineyard! Later that evening a truck pulled up to my home, and an older farmer got
out. I noticed Ray was with him. After the farmer inspected our work, he said,
'Looks like you could use some help.' I could not have agreed more.

To make a long story short, Ray (who is now my vineyard manager) and the
farmer helped replant the vines, aligned the rows, and put up the proper
trellising. We increased the number of vines from 1,000 to 1,400, and in early
2000, the first Satorivineyard, approximately 2.5 acres, was in the making.

My wife, Sandy, and I had been close friends since the
late 1980s, but did not date until many years later. By the mid-1990s, we were
together, sharing the little free time we had between her house in Mill Valley
and my land in Gilroy. We married in 2002, and ten months later our son, Riley,
came into our lives.

That year I was extremely busy. The cell phone business had taken a
major downturn, and Ericsson was trying to sell my division. The sale occurred
in September, and the process of integrating with a new company became a major
headache. Work had gone from exciting and fun to mundane and stifling.

In 2003, thanks to the encouragement of three
close friends, I made a major purchase in winemaking equipment, more than a
home winemaker would ever need, but large enough for a small winery. At the
time, starting a winery was the furthest thing from my mind, yet I had grapes
ripening and all the right equipment. With a lot of help, book reading, and
classes, I made the first vintage of what was to become Satoriwine. It was not that good, but I learned a
great deal. The next year's vintage was significantly better. My wine expert
friends were impressed as well as the judges at several home winemaker competitions,
and Satoriwines won several gold medals.

In 2004, we expanded the vineyard by six acres and added 3,700 plants. I
told myself I was doing this because our barn/house was nearing completion, it
had an upstairs deck that looked out over barren land, and I thought it would
be really nice to look at a vineyard, so why not plant more vines.

It was late 2005 when the idea of starting a winery finally took hold. My
day job was barely tolerable, there were many signs that pointed towards
starting a new and different life, and a few months later I was laid off. I could
have found another job in my industry, but with Sandy’s support and
encouragement, I chose to start the winery full-time.

Once the decision was made, there was little time to think about anything
else. Even so, the winery needed a name, and this was a major task. A name
brings concreteness to an idea, makes it feel more real, brings it into being. It
also helps when filling out the monumental amount of paperwork that comes with
a new business.

One day while I was meditating, I started playing with the letters in
our names – Sandy, Tom, and Riley. I used the first two letters of each of our
names...hmm... SATORI. It was like I had heard of it before, and
I liked the way it sounded. I 'googled' it and was surprised to learn that Satori meant “sudden unbidden moments of absolute stillness and peace in which
time stops and the perfection and beauty of creation shine forth". Later
that day I took a break to read some of Eckhart Tolles' book, The Power of Now, and, in the first few
paragraphs I started to read, there was the word Satori! He defined it as a "taste of
enlightenment". That was good enough for me, and Sandy agreed. And that
day the winery became SatoriCellars.

I grew the grapes and made the wine. Sandy dove in, beautified the
winery, and organized events. She invited friends who loved dressing in silk to
help harvest grapes and lend their femininity and beauty in creating the oasis
that is now Satori. Sandy has created an atmosphere of fun
and renewal that has made Satori more than a winery. From beautiful silk
decorations to face painting, Sandy has transformed Satoriinto the beautiful, festive, and relaxing oasis it is today. And even
our son, Riley, has joined in the fun as he loves to host the many children who
visit here.

We now host themed parties that are open to the public almost every weekend
afternoon. Every Solstice and Equinox weekend, we hold larger, special events, with
live music, face painting, bocce ball, and lots of other fun activities for the
whole family. Our beautiful and fragrant lavender and rosemary seven-ring
labyrinth is a favorite for many. And, most of all, Sandy and I love sharing
our wine and the beauty of Satori ~ a truly magical "taste of enlightenment".
Come, celebrate the journey with us!

Have questions about For love of the crush: The art and science of wine from a born-again Winemaker ?
Contact Eri Gentry